Rug scrubbing attachments



Y 4, 1965 w. A. DIX ET AL 3,181,190

RUG SCRUBBING ATTACHMENTS Filed Aug. 20, 1963 Fig.4

IN TOR-S Willard i Dix WITNESS Oswald M, Pariar ited States Patent3,181,190 RUG SCRUBBING ATTACHMENTS Willard A. Dix, North Plainfield,and Oswald M. Porter, Livingston, N.J., assignors to The Singer Company,New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 20, 1963, Ser.No. 303,341 7 Claims. (Cl. 15-98) This invention relates to the art ofrug scrubbing and shampooing and more particularly to an attachmentcapable of being secured to and driven by the vertically positioneddepending motor driven spindle of a conventional polishing or scrubbingmachine, and one of the objects of the present invention is to providean improved device of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rug scrubbing attachmenthaving a portion designed to support the weight of a polishing orscrubbing machine and at the same time having portions which penetratethe pile of the rug.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for delivering acleaning detergent deep into the pile of the rug.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved rugscrubbing attachment in which all of the rug contacting parts are madeof plastic.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear,the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangement ofparts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawingsof a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the severalfeatures of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical view, partly in section, showing portions of a rugscrubbing and shampooing machine equipped with a pair of rug scrubbingattachments embodying the present invention, 1

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of one of the rug scrubbing attachmentsshown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1,and

FIG. 4 is a large scale fragmentary section view showing how one of thehollow buttons deposits cleaning material or detergent deeply into therug pile and also showing how weight is supported on top of the pile.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, there is disclosed aconventional polishing and scrubbing machine 16 comprising a frame orhousing 17 supporting an electric motor 18 having a vertical drive shaft19, the lower end of which carries a pinion 21. The pinion 21 drives oneof two intermeshing gears 22-22 and each of these gears drives a smallgear 23 held to the upper end of a vertical spindle 24 rotatably mountedin the frame 17. The lower end of each of the spindles 24 carries androtatably drives a rug scrubbing attachment embodying the presentinvention and indicated generally by the numeral 32.

The rug scrubbing attachment 32 is annular in form to be understood thatany one of many types of means for securing the hub 33 to the spindle 24may be used. FIGS. 1 and 3 illustrate one such means and this meanscomprises a cast insert 37 having an apertured flange 33 and a shank 39.The flange 38 has an outside diameter substantially equal to the outsidediameter of the plastic hub portion 33 and the external diameter of theshank 39 is of such size as to easily enter the opening 36 in the hubportion 33. A pair of screws 41 pass through apertures in the flange 38and are threaded into holes 42 formed in the hub portion 33 therebysecuring the insert 37 to the hub portion 33.

The shank 39 and flange 38 are formed with a centrally located hole 43having a polygonal cross section of a size designed to receive asimilarly shaped polygonal portion 44 of the spindle 24. Reference toFIG. 1 shows that the central opening 36 in the hub portion 33 is longerthan the polygonal portion 44 of the spindle 24, and the portion of theopening 36 below the shank 39 is fitted with a resilient tube 46 thecentral hole of which receives a collar 47 carried on the end of thespindle 24. Since the external diameter of the collar 47 is slightlygreater than the size of the hole in the resilient tube 46, the collar47 and the hole in the tube 46 form a means for holding the hub portion33 to the spindle 24. Also, the polygonal portion 44 of the spindle 24co-operates with the polygonal hole 43 in the shank 39 to assure thatthe attachment 32 will rotate with the spindle 24.

The annular plate portion 34- of the rug scrubbing attachment 32 isformed with a down facing smooth central circular surface 51 which issurrounded by an annular surface 52, the surface 52 being elevated abovethe surface 51, and the surface 52 adjacent to its outer perimeter isformed with a plurality, in this case twelve, equally spaced dependingrug engaging buttons 53. Reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 shows that the lowerends of the buttons 53 are semispherical and depend slightly below thesurface 51 and thus when the attachment 32 is placed on a rug or carpet50, the main portion of the weight of the polishing or scrubbing machine16 will be at least partially supported by the surface 51 resting on therug or carpet 50. At the same time, the buttons 53 will penetrate thepile 55 of the rug or carpet. Each button 53 is provided with avertically extending cylindrical port 54 the upper end of which is incommunication with a first or outer upwardly open annular channel ortrough 56 formed by an outer annular wall 57 of the button plate 34, aninner annular partition wall 58 and a wall 60, the lower surface ofwhich provides the annular surface 52. Reference to FIG. 1 shows thatthe upper end of the port 54 is offset radially outwardly from thecenter of the trough 56 and that the entrance to each port 54 has adownwardly inclined surface 62. Thus gravitational and centrifugalforces combine to feed detergent or other cleaning fluid from the trough56 into the various ports 54. A second or inner annular upwardly openchannel 59 is also formed in the plate portion 34, this channel 59 beingdefined by the previously mentioned partition wall 58, the outerperimeter of the hub portion 33, and a wall 61 the lower surface ofwhich provides a portion of the central circular surface 51.

Means for conducting a liquid detergent to the channels 56 isdiagrammatically shown in FIG. 1 and includes a reservoir 66 the lowerend of which is connected to a tube having two branches 67 and 68, theends of which are positioned to feed detergent to the channels 56 of thetwo attachments 32. A valve (not shown), of any conventional type, maybe used to control the flow of detergent from the reservoir 66.

In operation, the electric motor 18 by means of pinions and gears 21,22, 23 and the spindles 24 rotates the two attachments 32, and thereservoir 66 by means of the tube branches 67 and 68 dispenses detergentor other cleaning material to the two annular channels or troughs 56.Centrifugal force created by rotation of the attachments 32 causes thedetergent to move downwardly and outwardly through the ports 54 formedin the center of each button 53. This arrangement places the cleaningliquid at the point of contact of the buttons 53 with the rug or carpet50 being cleaned and more specifically, as best seen in FIG. 4, thecleaning material is placed deeply into the rug pile 55. Because thecleaning liquid is dispersed at the point Where the buttons move overthe rug and through the pile, the liquid not only acts as a cleaningagent but also serves as a lubricant for passage of the buttons 53 overthe rug.

The subject rug scrubbing attachments 32 are advantageous because theiruse (a) provide for deep cleaning of the carpet pile, (b) provide goodsurface cleaning of the pile, (c) produce little or no matting of thecarpet, (d) restores or picks up the pile of a rug that has been mattedby heavy traffic, and (e) can be successfully used to scrub or shampoorugs without a need for using a dolly to support the weight of thescrubbing machine.

Having thus set forth the nature of our invention, What we claim hereinis:

1. An annular attachment for use in scrubbing a pile type rug, saidattachment having a hub portion equipped with means for connecting saidhub portion to a drive spindle for rotatably driving said scrubbingattachment, and a plate portion secured to said hub portion, said plateportion having a down facing annular surface, a plurality of buttonsdepending from said down facing annular surface at least one of saidbuttons having a port extending downwardly therethrough and said porthaving an open end in a lower portion of said button to thereby depositliquid deeply into rug pile as said attachment rotates, and means forfeeding a liquid to said port in said button.

2. An annular attachment for use in scrubbing a pile type rug, saidattachment having a hub portion equipped with means for connecting saidhub portion to a drive spindle for rotatably driving said scrubbingattachment, and a plate portion secured to said hub portion, said plateportion comprising an upwardly open trough, a down facing surface, aplurality of buttons depending from said down facing surface at leastone of said buttons having a port extending downwardly therethrough andsaid port having an open end in a lower portion of said button tothereby deposit liquid deeply into rug pile as said attachment rotates,and the upper end of the port in said button being in communication withsaid trough.

3. An annular attachment for use in scrubbing a pile type rug, saidattachment having an upstanding hub portion equipped with means forconnecting said hub portion to a drive spindle for rotatably drivingsaid scrubbing attachment, and a plate portion secured to said hubportion, said plate portion comprising a down facing flat centralsurface for resting on top of rug pile and thereby at least partiallysupporting the weight of a scrubbing machine, an upwardly open annulartrough, a down facing annular surface surrounding said fiat centralsurface, a plurality of buttons depending from said down facing annularsurface at least one of said buttons having a port extending downwardlytherethrough and said port having an open end in a lower portion of saidbutton to thereby deposit liquid deeply into rug pile as said attachmentrotates, and the upper end of the port in said button being incommunication with said annular trough.

4. An annular attachment for use in scrubbing a pile type rug, saidattachment having an upstanding hub portion equipped with means forconnecting said hub portion to a drive spindle for rotatably drivingsaid scrubbing attachment, and a plate portion secured to said hubportion, said plate portion comprising a down facing flat centralsurface for resting on top of rug pile and thereby at least partiallysupporting the weight of a scrubbing machine, a down facing annularsurface surrounding said flat central surface, said down facing annularsurface being located slightly above said central surface, and aplurality of buttons depending from said down facing annular surface atleast one of said buttons having a port extending downwardlytherethrough and said port having an open end in a lower portion of saidbutton to thereby deposit liquiddeeply into rug pile as said attachmentrotates, the lower ends of said buttons extending slightly below thesaid flat central surface and thereby being capable of entering rugpile, and means for feeding liquid to the ports in said buttons.

5. An annular rug scrubbing attachment having an upstanding hub portionequipped with means for connecting said hub portion to a drive spindlefor rotatably driving said scrubbing attachment, and a plate portionsecured to said hub portion, said plate portion comprising a down facingfiat central surface for resting on top of rug pile and thereby at leastpartially supporting the weight of a scrubbing machine, a down facingannular surface surrounding said fiat central surface, said down facingannular surface being located slightly above said central surface, and aplurality of buttons depending from said down facing annular surface,the lower ends of said buttons extending slightly below the said fiatcentral surface and thereby being capable of entering rug pile.

6. An annular plastic rub scrubbing attachment having an upstanding hubportion equipped with means for connecting said hub portion to a drivespindle for rotatably driving said scrubbing attachment, and a plateportion integrally formed with said hub portion, said plate portioncomprising a down facing flat central surface for resting on top of rugpile and thereby at least partially supporting the weight of a scrubbingmachine, walls defining an upwardly open annular trough, a down facingannular surface surrounding said fiat central surface, said down facingannular surface being located slightly above said central surface, and aplurality of semispherical ended port-containing buttons depending fromsaid down facing annular surface, the lower ends of said buttonsextending slightly below the said flat central surface and thereby beingcapable of entering rug pile, and the upper ends of the ports in saidbuttons being in communication with said annular trough.

7. An annular rug scrubbing attachment having a hub portion equippedwith means for connecting said hub portion to a drive spindle of ascrubbing machine for rotatably driving said scrubbing attachment, and aplate portion secured to said hub portion, said plate portion having afirst downwardly facing surface, a second downwardly facing surface,said first downwardly facing surface being located slightly above saidsecond downwardly facing surface, thereby causing said second downwardlyfacing surface to rest on top of rug pile to at least partly support theweight of the scrubbing machine, and a plurality of port containingbuttons depending from said first downwardly facing surfaces.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,929,345 10/33Brown et al 15-98 X 2,975,448 3/61 Glaser l540 X 2,999,258 9/61Berberian 15-50 FOREIGN PATENTS 378,618 8/32 Great Britain.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

1. AN ANNULAR ATTACHMENT FOR USE IN SCRUBBING A PILE TYPE RUG, SAIDATTACHMENT HAVING A HUB PORTION EQUIPPED WITH MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAIDHUB PORTION TO A DRIVE SPINDLE FOR ROTATABLY DRIVING SAID SCRUBBINGATTACHMENT, AND A PLATE PORTION SECURED TO SAID HUB PORTION, SAID PLATEPORTION HAVING A DOWN FACING ANNULAR SURFACE, A PLURALITY OF BUTTONSDEPENDING FROM SAID DOWN FACING ANNULAR SURFACE AT LEAST ONE OF SAIDBUTTONS HAVING A PORT EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY THERETHROUGH AND SAID PORTHAVING AN OPEN END IN A LOWER PORTION OF SAID BUTTON TO THEREBY DEPOSIT